• There Oughta Be An App For That
    One of the things people seem to love about smartphone apps is how they can use them to replace other tools and everyday items. These range from the inane (Zippo lighters and light sabers) to the semi-useful (tazers and flashlights) to the pretty useful (levels and GPS speedometers) to the insanely useful (Guinness finder). So we set to work on what we do best here at MPHQ: namely dreaming up the fatuous and fictitious ideas that might just be the keys to happiness.
  • Why Can't Apple and Android Users Just All Get Along?
    A report from the social personality site MyType concluded that "iPad Owners are an elite bunch." Thank God they don't make their living doing market research. The report then goes on to describe iPaddies further: "They're wealthy, highly educated and sophisticated," it states. "They value power and achievement much more than others. They're also selfish, scoring low on measures of kindness and altruism."
  • X-Tremely Harsh: Motorola Buys Full-Page Slam Ad Against Apple
    During the Apple press conference dealing with Antennagate, Steve Jobs made the case that its reception issues were something common to all smartphones, including those made by HTC, Research in Motion, Samsung and Nokia. Motorola managed to avoid inclusion in the low-reception lineup highlighted during Jobs' presentation. Nevertheless, the handset maker has taken full advantage of Apple's "death grip" antenna woes and free "bumper" fix with a full page ad for the new Droid X in The New York Times Wednesday featuring the tag line "No Jacket Required" in large type.
  • FCC Makes It Easier To Make Wireless Complaints
    The Federal Communications Commission this year has drawn attention to wireless consumer issues like early termination fees and "bill shock" through inquiries, new rules and other actions. Now the agency is making it easier for people to file telecom-related complaints about everything from spotty cell coverage to telemarketing to Internet and cable service.
  • AT&T Goes Wide With Metro WiFi Zones
    After debuting its metropolitan WiFi hotspot program on Broadway this spring, AT&T is taking it on the road. The carrier said Monday it's launching free WiFi access for smartphone customers in downtown Charlotte, N.C. AT&T also plans to add WiFi access in Chicago in the coming weeks, without disclosing what part of the city will be covered.
  • Apple Ends 'Antennagate' With App-roval
    It looks like Apple finally got something right in connection with Antennagate. With today's release of a free iPhone app allowing iPhone owners to order their free bumper from Apple or cases from other manufactures, the company seems to have offered a solution that's actually won approval.
  • Nokia, Meet Android
    Maybe Nokia should consider announcing quarterly earnings during a different week than Apple or AT&T does. The Finnish phone giant's 40% plunge in second-quarter profit looked that much worse in contrast with Apple's 78% and AT&T's 26% profit gains, respectively, in the prior quarter. Both companies' earnings were driven in no small part by the iPhone, whose ascendance in the last three years has come at the expense of Nokia.
  • Conference Takeways: Gains For Android, Mobile Ad Engagement
    In case you couldn't make it to the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Mobile Marketing Conference in New York this week, Citi analyst Mark Mahaney has issued a research note highlighting some of the key points from the event. The firm attended sessions from companies including ESPN, GetJar, JumpTap, Intel, Microsoft, NBC, PointRoll, R/GA and others. Among the takeaways:
  • The Need For Speed
    As a great man once said, life moves pretty fast. And it's just getting faster. It seems like only yesterday we were talking about how e-book sales had surpassed the number of purchases of the genuine article. OK, that was, in fact, yesterday. We won't all be sitting around saying, "Oh man, remember when we used to have books?" any time soon. But as has been espoused elsewhere more eloquently and at great length, basically, the more things change, the more they change. Futurist Ray Kurzweil has advanced the "historical exponential view" -- that the pace of technological change can't …
  • Heavy Handed: Apple Takes the Gloves Off And Rivals Hit Back
    You knew this was coming. After Steve Jobs' dressing down of RIM, HTC, and Samsung model phones in his address to the nation Friday, the other manufacturers have responded to Apple with a collective "Huh?" If the headline that came out of Jobs' non mea culpa -- "Apple to offer free rubber bands" -- seemed worthy of an Onion story, so too did the videos Apple made showing competitors' phones failing. After Jobs says by way of introduction, ""Let's take a look at what happens when you hold it in a totally normal way," a large, well-manicured hand does anything …
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